Nothing wrong with being a good-old-fashioned curmudgeon during this silly season!

All okie-dokie here. Taking my meds and sleeping pretty well these days. In retrospect, my crashes have been caused primarily by sleep deprivation, and that lack of sleep caused by over-active thinking -- inability to "turn the light off" at the end of the day. I need to keep reminding myself that it is not my job to think up the solutions to all the World's problems. No single human could carry that burden, and I shouldn't try. There; I sleep like a lamb.

I just keep thinking that January 1st is right around the corner. A day off from work, and the next day ALL the holiday insanity is behind us. The retail stores however, are busily working on getting the Valentine's Day displays up and the shelves all stocked with red, heart shaped boxes of candy.

TinkerMom, we have a comfort zone right here; it is called ePlaya. Over on the Bar #4 thread we even have a hot springs pool on the roof. Magic Marty just jumped in and I'm on my way up the ladder. Grab a towel and come on over!

An other thing you can do is forget all about Christmas and instead celebrate a birthday that really matters on December 25 -- mine!

Elliot wrote::D TinkerMom, we have a comfort zone right here; it is called ePlaya. Over on the Bar #4 thread we even have a hot springs pool on the roof. Magic Marty just jumped in and I'm on my way up the ladder. Grab a towel and come on over!

An other thing you can do is forget all about Christmas and instead celebrate a birthday that really matters on December 25 -- mine!

you should see the photo I got of Elliot and Figjam swimming in the hot spring together.

I found myself sitting and unloading some prime holiday/work/miss my Mom sadness on my nephew's fiance today. Poor dear, she just asked how I was. I don't talk to real people in a real way as much as I should. It was a good gauge of how I feel this time of year, and how I'd rather feel as well. I found some silly cards my mother had sent me in years past, and it just tore me up. I was sorting some old insurance forms and statements, and old greeting cards were mixed in. So this young woman was trying to give me advice about work, saying, "I don't know how much longer you are going to be working." uh? shit, I haven't even chosen my career path yet.

MyDearFriend wrote:What ever else you do, have fun. Have fun. HAVE FUN. Because the problem with just enduring your life is that it makes you too eager to get it over with.

Speaking from experience, when you are having both depression and (not coincidentally) financial problems, there are always people there to scold you for foolishly spending some money to try to have fun, when you are too poor for fun.

"Nothing is withheld from us which we have conceived to do.Do things that have never been done."--Russell Kirsch

.To thrive is a word that is not much used in American English, and when it is used it usually pertains to either monetary wealth or the growth of an infant. But in Norway where I grew up, to thrive means to enjoy life in general, to be happy with one's friends and living conditions and peace of mind and so forth, and people consider it vital.

We do use the phrase quality of life here, and that's close, but we sure don't pay enough attention to the concept. Too much dog-eat-dog, get-rich-quick, I-got-mine and so on.

MyDearFriend wrote:What ever else you do, have fun. Have fun. HAVE FUN. Because the problem with just enduring your life is that it makes you too eager to get it over with.

Speaking from experience, when you are having both depression and (not coincidentally) financial problems, there are always people there to scold you for foolishly spending some money to try to have fun, when you are too poor for fun.

I've been there. And that's why I have trouble with the chiding of people who are trying to go to the burn when they are on SSI or something like that. It's not an always thing, I don't always land on the same side of the issue, but I think that poor people need vacations too. Maybe more than middle class people.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

I have a relatives who loves vacation, and I agree, everyone needs time away... but at the expense of paying the basics for survival? So yeah, it would depend a lot on the circumstances and the person. Lots of interesting decision making in my family.

theCryptofishist wrote:Oh yeah, don't I know. I do know that poverty is a 24/7 job. No one should be forced to live that way year after year.

But then my husband was on assistance. It's a nasty business....

interesting choice of words, "forced to live that way"............

Interesting choice of words, "interesting choice of words, "forced to live that way............""

Not sure if that was a stab at the unemployed or the underemployed....or both..

it's not a stab."forced" implies, to me, someones is making them stay where they are.It's different, than someone being in that situation, through no fault of their own.The implication being someone, somewhere pointing a finger and saying "you are going to be poor, and you can't do anything about it"I don't believe that, but I do believe at times, people have no control over their situation.

BAS wrote:Speaking from experience, when you are having both depression and (not coincidentally) financial problems, there are always people there to scold you for foolishly spending some money to try to have fun, when you are too poor for fun.

There is huge social pressure on poor people seeking pleasure. They are supposed to suffer as a reminder to those of us who are "middle class" of how lucky we are and we hadn't better start looking for anything better or question the social order that oppresses almost all of us.We could up the unemployment insurance and aid to families with dependent children and social security if we chose to. It would be great for the economy, too. But we'd rather hold to this pettiness.

And I think we know where the argument goes from here: look there's the great circle let's all of us run around it endlessly, yelling at the top of our lungs...

Is it so bad of me to offer support to BAS?

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

not only is there nothing wrong with supporting BAS and what he says........it's very nice of you.I get caught in words and meanings, at times, a "nested loop"...........Inferences and such can be so subtle, sometimes I miss them, so, ask or comment, trying for clarity.I totally agree folks need fun and laughter........though it's my own business how, where or when, I try to help folks do just that, when they can't do it themselves.I'm not without compassion, but I'm also a nut on meanings and bastardized meanings.